Before you get started, you’ll need these Wreath Ornament supplies:

a small hoop (Child-size bangles are perfect! I found these 2 1/2″ diameter plastic bangles at our local Dollar Tree in a pack of ten.)

strips of green fabric ripped to approximately 1 1/2″ wide

green chenille stems

red beads

green ribbon for hanging

Wreath Ornament Instructions:

Cut your long fabric strips into 6″ pieces. (I piled mine on top of each other and used my rotary cutter.)

Fold one fabric piece in half and match up the long edges. Just press it down with your fingers in the center.

Now form a loop with the fabric piece and slide the loop under the edge of your hoop like this:

Guide the ends of the fabric up through the loop.

Pull the fabric tight on the hoop.

Continue doing this with your fabric pieces until you’ve filled the hoop tightly. (I used 12 fabric pieces on each of my hoops. Keeping the number divisible by three will let you place the bead “berries” evenly.)

Cut three pieces of chenille stem 2″ long.

Slide a bead onto one piece of chenille stem.

Wrap the chenille stem around the wreath in between two of the fabric pieces. Keep the bead on the side that will be the front of your wreath. Twist the ends of the chenille stem around each other to secure the bead in place.

Coal Popcorn Balls

Coal Popcorn Balls… putting a twist on the ever-favorite popcorn balls by creating a licorice caramel to make these amazing Coal Popcorn Balls. Free printable, perfect for gifting, included!

Hi, guys! I am Amy from My 3 Monsters and I am excited to be guest posting here today for the Crazy Christmas event. I’m sharing my twist on one of our classic family recipes that would make a super fun treat for your friends and neighbors!

Every year for Christmas, my husband’s family makes licorice caramels. I had never heard of them before, have y‘all? Licorice caramel is soft, buttery, homemade caramel with a subtle anise, or black licorice, flavor. It is BLACK and gooey and delicious. I don’t even like black licorice AT ALL, but I LOVE licorice caramel, so don’t knock it til you try it! I got to thinking, if you poured the hot caramel over popcorn and made popcorn balls, they would look an awful lot like lumps of coal.

When our kids were little, I used to tease them that they would get nothing but coal in their stockings if they were naughty. Of course, I was never going to make good on that threat, but it sure went a long way in getting them to obey in December! I thought it would be fun to make Licorice Caramel “Coal” Popcorn Balls with humorous tags for our friends and neighbors this year.

I designed these tags so that, at first glance, they seem a little bit snarky, but if you look closely you’ll get a fun holiday message. You can either package the popcorn balls individually, with cute striped straws for sticks and put a tag on each one, or you could put several of them in a cute basket or container with a tag on it.

To make the Coal Licorice Caramel

Combine butter, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, light corn syrup, and salt in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring frequently. Once it starts to boil, stir constantly and keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Boil until the caramel reaches the firm soft ball stage. I don’t own a candy thermometer because I prefer using the cold water candy test — you will know your caramel is done when a firm, soft pliable ball forms after you drop a small amount of the boiling liquid into cold water.

Remove the caramel from the heat and add anise extract and black food coloring, stirring until thoroughly mixed. {If you’re really averse to the flavor of black licorice, you can simply omit the anise extract and just add the black food coloring!} Pour over popcorn and stir until it is all evenly coated.

Using buttered hands, form the popcorn into small balls. Be careful because the caramel will still be pretty warm. If desired, add sticks to your popcorn balls while they are still warm. Set popcorn balls on parchment paper and allow to set up for several hours or over night. Package in individual cellophane bags and tie up with coordinating ribbon.

Six Christmas Gift Tags – Free Printables!

Six Christmas Gift Tags… download these adorable, free holiday tags to dress up all your gifts this season!

When I wrap Christmas presents, I like to have pretty paper and ribbons and tags that coordinate, because I like it to look pretty under the tree. The traditional green and red colors are my favorite, and I’m delighted to share these free printable gift tags with all of you today. They are patterned off of some coordinating Christmas prints I shared last year on my site, I just converted them into gift tags.

Hi Naptime friends, I’m Kristen Duke from Capturing Joy, and I love to share everything to do with having fun with your family, including holiday celebrations, travel adventures, and photo tips! I’d love to have you hop on over to my site and look around.

So back to the gift tags…all you have to do is click the download button below, print, and cut ’em out.

There are a few different designs, 6 in total, some words, some designs, all Christmas colorful and happy.

You can cut and use just as they are, I backed one with red cardstock for a pop of color.

Layer batter and cinnamon/sugar mixture in pan(s), repeating with batter and cinnamon-sugar mixture. Draw a knife through batter to swirl the mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes (smaller pans check after 15-20 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool about 10 minutes, then mix the vanilla glaze until creamy, and drizzle it on the bread.

Such a quick and easy gift! In fact, I love quick and easy gifts that are clever and useful. You might like to see more of my handmade gift ideas. I also have 30 printable holiday gift tags to make gift giving simple. Just pair the cute saying with a small gift, wrap it up and you are done. It couldn’t be simpler.

Peppermint Toffee Gift Idea

This Peppermint Toffee is SO easy to make and is sure to be your new favorite holiday treat. It’s made with only 5 ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to make.

This peppermint toffee has five basic ingredients: graham crackers, butter, brown sugar, white chocolate and candy canes. The candy canes on top add the perfect peppermint crunch. If you’re feeling extra festive, you can even dye some of the chocolate red and drizzle it on top. :) It is very similar to my saltine cracker toffee, but is made with graham crackers and white chocolate. I halved the recipe and I also cook it a minute longer to get it a little crunchier. If you’re a peppermint fan, you have to put these on your baking list. I have already made 3 batches and plan to make more for friends and family as Christmas gets closer.

I’m excited to be partnering with Coca-Cola on this post. This season Coca-Cola wants to help spotlight the unsung heroes who go the extra mile to make the holidays special for others. There are so many heroes in my life, so it was hard to pick just one. I can’t wait to treat them all to this peppermint toffee.

I got together with my kids to brainstorm who we could make a special package for and their answer was of course, Dad! I thought this was the perfect unsung hero in our life to spotlight and give praise to. He’s the one who is always running to the store last minute for stocking stuffers, or ingredients missed for our Christmas dinner. He’s also wrapping presents wee into the hours of the night on Christmas Eve, setting up toys and helping make sure everything is perfect for the kids. He tries to make everything special for the kids and will do whatever it takes to make them smile. We sure love him and don’t know what we’d do without him!

For our gift, we packaged up this peppermint toffee and made his very own personalized Coca-Cola bottle. Fun, right?! I’m sure he’s going to love it and I’m pretty sure I’m thinking I need one with Mom on it. ;) You can order your own personalized #ShareaCoke glass bottles for loved ones HERE. Use the discount code: HOLIDAY40

Peppermint Toffee Recipe

Peppermint Toffee

Yield:10-12 servings

Total Time:30 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 package graham crackers

1 cup white chocolate melting wafers

2 candy canes, crushed

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Line a large half-sheet jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray and then line the pan with graham crackers.
Place the butter and sugar in a medium sized pot over low medium-low heat. Stir until the butter is melted. Once the butter has melted, bring to a boil for 3 minutes.
Once it's nice and bubbly and changed to more of a caramel color, remove pan from heat and pour evenly over crackers. Spread mixture with a knife... however it doesn't have to be perfect. Try to move fast during this part so the toffee doesn't harden.
Place pan in the oven and bake for 7-9 minutes.
Remove pan from and allow to cool slightly. Melt the chocolate and then pour over the top with a spatula. Sprinkle candy canes on top and then place in the freezer for 15 minutes. If desired, drizzle red chocolate on top. Once chocolate has hardened break pieces off the foil and in a container. It will stay fresh for 1 week.

For the drizzle, melt 1/2 cup red melting chocolate (or add red dye to 1/2 cup melted white chocolate) and then place in a zip top bag. Then snip the very tip off and drizzle over the top. Place back in the freezer until hardened.

This peppermint toffee would make a great gift for neighbors, teachers and friends!

This peppermint toffee would also make a yummy addition to Santa’s cookie plate! My kids thought he would like his very own personalized Coke bottle too ;)

This post was brought to you by Coca-Cola. All opinions are 100% my own.